Kennedy, who projected a relaxed, accessible persona, was also asked if she’d run in 2010 if not selected.

“Well, if he doesn’t select me, I would support the person that he does select,” she said.

Why would she have to pander to riff raff? (It also means it’s in the bag, like B0’s selection whem Michele spoke)

After all, she has a “vocation”

Dominic Carter: Is the legacy of your father perhaps why you’re running or hoping to go to the U.S. Senate?

Caroline Kennedy: This is really about me. I’m tremendously proud of our family legacy my mother was really a strong force in my life and she believed doing the unexpected and living life on your own terms. Now that I am 51 as you pointed out (laughs) this is something I’ve come to on my own. I’ve done different kinds of things because I think this isn’t something you don’t do unless you’re really committed. I understand about how much work is required This is not just a job, it’s a vocation, a mission, I wouldn’t be putting myself forward unless I was serious about exactly what was required.

Sheesh! Silly me – I thought it was about serving the people of NY!

Anyway, the little bit of dish from the Politico article

she finally spoke to Hillary Clinton — who didn’t initially take her call — and that, if she’s not selected, she won’t run for the seat.

“We did have a very nice, you know, conversation, and obviously I’m not gonna talk about that, except to say that she said this was the greatest job that she’d ever had and could imagine having,” Kennedy said. “So, she was very encouraging, and that was, you know, that was nice because she’s a huge inspiration of mine.”

yeah, Caroline, it was a great job she had. Then your uncle squeezed her out bu kicking her out of the healthcare committeee making her leave senate so you can have a ‘vocation”. But only by appointment.

Update

I missed the funniest bit – her answer to the voting record:

“I was really surprised and dismayed by my voting record,” she said. “I’m glad it’s been brought to my attention.”

she still seemed less like a candidate than an idea of one: forceful but vague, largely undefined and seemingly determined to remain that way.

one exception from the vagueness:

Caroline Kennedy, the woman who would be New York’s next senator, is sure of one thing

“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think I would be the best,”

And she left the controversial answers to…the voters

even in an area like education, where she has some expertise. Ms. Kennedy would not say, for example, whether she supported proposals to abolish tenure for teachers and offer them merit pay instead.“To pick out the most controversial one as a stand-alone thing, I don’t think that’s really the way to go about this,” Ms. Kennedy said. “People can vote; it’ll be really interesting to see what happens.

7 comments

I’m not so sure it’s a done deal. I live an hour south of Albany, and Albany politics are insular and intense. Ted Kennedy doesn’t have the same sway here that he does in MA, and Patterson is beholden to upstate voters–who are hardscrabble, pragmatic, and lean conservative. He will have a hard time explaining Princess Kennedy to that constituency when he wants to run for Gov. His statements to date indicate that he is irritated by the pressure and proclamations of CK as a given. There are also many HRC supporters pushing hard for other candidates, such as Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, Carolyn Maloney, and Cuomo, of course. Most of the hype is coming for CK’s hometown, NYC, but it’s not the same upstate. She got grilled on her brief tour of industrial towns like Syracuse.

Personally, I’m furious, and I’ve called and written the Gov’s office. It’s an insult to state voters. A replacement should be chosen from the reps we’ve ALREADY entrusted with our support. First Bush set the bar so low for experience & nepotism, and then Obama exceeded it, and now this…can they make it any clearer that in this system voters are irrelevant, and money and power talk?

I listened to a 20 second soundbite of the princess speaking. There were at least 3 “you knows” and 4 “uhs”. She must have the same speech impediment that Captain Zero has. No wonder she and he support each other.

It’s pretty much a done deal. Obama has reassured Paterson that he’ll have the support of the machine in 2010 if he appoints her, and the opposition of it if he appoints someone else. The only person with a chance of upsetting the apple cart is Andrew Cuomo, but he’ll play nice if Obama makes him a deal he can’t refuse. Who knows – maybe Obama is promising them both backing for Governor in 2010…

Sorry to say Caroline lacks her father’s charisma and her mother’s charm. I think she knows in a fair fight, she would lose and that is unacceptible to the Kennedy ego–hence, the leaping of the electoral process.

The strategy is, of course, to put the JFK legacy out front of criticism: no one with a heart over
50 would deny Caroline a chance; no one under
thirty knows enough about American history to care–or so it seems. (If they did, they would not have given Barack H. Obama a second look-see.)

I don’t think Governor Paterson has the final say in this matter. Money talks; conscience balks.